Prayer itself has become pat answer or a way to say, “I’m sad and sorry for what has happened.” Our world is overtly challenged if you can at all believe what you read and hear today. We are returning from a month in Europe and have encountered the core stuff of life in a world that is “in the power of the evil one.” Saying that you will pray with or for someone has become a nice little sentiment when you can’t find the words or find yourself overwhelmed by some situation. Political unrest and violence, confrontation with cancer, deception within relationships, painful betrayals and reputational damage, let alone earthquakes, fires, senseless disregard for human life and these stories are only a flash of what is a blinding light of confusion. If this is what one believes about prayer, I will agree that it feels small and offensive to pat down such extreme human suffering with a nice little word. But prayer is the furthest thing from a pat answer:

Prayer is a call on God to intervene and show up in blazing power in a situation that does not have a human answer. Prayer is enlisting the protection, power and deliverance of the one who holds the universe in His hands. A first response of prayer, even before the dust settles, is the most active solution oriented approach possible. It is an admittance that our best efforts are meaningless without God. It is an admittance of need, even to know how to respond. Calling on God who is intimately involved with every cell in every human body to heal and preserve life is wise. A miraculous intervention was needed in so many cases. We must call on God for comfort for those who lost love ones. God is a God of compassion and if there was ever a need for powerful compassion, it is now.

More was done by God to heal, protect, love, give courage, give wisdom and guidance where needed than by any other act of any person. This was in response to the cry of his children through prayer.

If prayer is not enough then I would think there is a denial that prayer is attached to conversation with the God of universe who is present, active and not silent. Prayer is not simply a nice little word.

We are so grateful for your whole being support of us as we endeavor to increase our trust in the only hope in the universe. Keep praying,,, it is never in vain.

I frequently muse about the role that grief plays in our lives. Losses are inevitable and even necessary. If we learn how to grieve and mourn them well, we will come to experience a kind of spiritual freedom only available through letting go.

I’m troubled when I see how often we as believers walk away from the giant resource grief provides us in our journeys to become more mature and more like Christ. Instead, we avoid grief by attempting to get the world to fit into our mold, or attempting to escape the normal movement of life, or seeking peace and safety at the expense of reality. It is often only through loss, suffering and grief that we have access to the central and massive comfort and freedom that Jesus died to provide us, in the here and now.

A few months ago, Nancy took our grandsons to Body World, a traveling science display in Denver. Here in the midst of an exhibit displaying the phenomenal physical marvels of being human, she found that the context screamed of hopelessness–no purpose, no future. Along with the fascinating display of the human body came a number of banners with quotes that seemed to rob the viewer of reasons to live, such as, “When you die, you just lose consciousness.” In a culture that denies grief and death, it is difficult to hold a biblical view of reality that finds hope in the midst of a broken world and painful circumstances. Like the display, our culture attempts to soften painful realities with slogans that tout “hope” rooted in nothing. Perhaps, as the exhibit implies, if we simply define man as a biological entity, we can remove the inevitable sting of loss. So the slogan, “when you die you die” is intended to comfort us in an attempt to respond to the reality one only sees. And it’s designed to eliminate our desperate need for hope.

The Body World display teaches us that without a future vision we must either live in despair or some form of fantasy. The biblical view is quite different. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul tells believers, “…we are not to grieve as the world grieves, as those who have no HOPE.” And in 1 Peter 3:15, Peter says, as believers we are to be ready to give an answer to those who ask, for the HOPE that is in us. Quite frequently we ignore the scriptures instructing believers to “not lose HOPE!” Real hope comes when we place our trust in “true truth.” Why do we so often fail to walk in this freedom, which is given to us who believe? Maybe part of the reason is because we fail to make the necessary adjustments in our thinking that will line us up with the truth we claim.

The truth Christ has given us says that although much of what we experience in this upside down world is not part of the original design, God has given us grief as a major resource to deal with the regular rhythms of transition and loss. Transition, loss, and the grief of dealing with these allow us to offload distortions of reality. We are essentially double minded, and instead of believing the truth, we believe the distortions the world markets to us: a life that makes sense, and personal peace and affluence. One good thing about the globalization of our world is that we are less likely to live in isolation from the painful reality of this messed up world. Buried in the middle of this is a view of life that is grounded in facing life as it comes and being able to grapple with the “bad news”.

I’d like to suggest that we define grief like this: to accurately adjust our views of reality by aligning them with the “truth” of God’s creation in it’s fallen, messed up, mean state! Grief in this context may be thought of as a healthy concession to the fallenness of the present world. Matthew 5:4 says those who mourn will be comforted. It’s interesting to me that these two ideas are linked in this manner. Few of us seem to get this connection, that grief/mourning gives us access to comfort/freedom. How often are our expectations of what life should be like derived from our culture instead of the “Word” written and incarnate? Our culture shapes our expectations as well as our desires. First world individuals are caught in a consumeristic environment. In this environment a desire is never illegitimate, it is only unmet!

Let that sink in for a moment. What helps shape our desires? Is it the ‘truth’ we believe from Scripture, or are we formed by the strength of the environment in which we are placed? If this second view is allowed to shape our perceptions, then the basis for our HOPE is skewed!

For consumers, fulfillment of desire is the highest good and the final arbiter in making decisions. In contrast, Scripture champions freedom, contentment and self-control based in values, not endless pursuit of personal desire. God is not a commodity that exists to make us feel better!

Maybe a thorough sensitizing and awareness of our expectations and their origins is the core work of grief. The first thing we must do in order to move through the grieving process in a life-giving way is to face the truth about our skewed/distorted beliefs of how life should work. Most of us see the application in “large” issues, like the death of a loved one or loss of the ability to work or a divorce. It’s the smaller deceptions that keep us from experiencing the freedom we miss. Let’s examine some of these.

How often are our disappointments in our children or a disagreement with our mate mishandled? Instead of seeing the “matter of fact” of life’s movements, we eschew such for the immediate feeling of control and the satisfaction it seems to provide. Even something as trite as a haircut and color that doesn’t turn out as you expected can rob us of the capacity to celebrate the life that we have in fact been given. Often our view squeezes out the joy that is available because we are restricted by a pinched perspective that prohibits us from seeing the freedom God has for us. Our culture teaches us to win, not to grieve. We want to be right, to fight and to be strong. Grieving the loss of some particular disappointment means that we are called to “let go” and move away from a victim posture. Culture teaches the opposite by telling us to find someone or something to blame.

Any “false” view of reality, no matter how small, can and will set us up for useless pain and disappointment. When we put our hope in a world free of loss and only driven by acquisition, we are committing a form of idolatry.

But there’s another kind of grief. The kind laid out in the Gospels. I call it hopeful grief or good grief. This kind of grief is based on a view of reality that allows us to adjust to what is rather than what we wish was.

We just put up our “tree” for this season. It carries more weight this year since we have been without this ritual for the last two holiday seasons. Our tree was fresh cut – by hand – by friends – for us – from the Colorado forest. Now I have not reflected at great depth on this, but this tree represents many layers of experience, e.g. history, tradition, celebration, relationships, church, nostalgia…food. Yet, for me a profound aspect of the “Christmas Tree”, or first tree, is what it is supposed to represent. An evergreen symbolizes stability – something that lasts. However, my experience is marked by the tree’s removal and disposal every year. Oh well, so much for stability and security. (Funny how difficult it is to get these trees to stand up!) The point is it poorly represents the secure hope my soul longs for. Nevertheless, it does remind me for a moment.

In trying to return to some “order” and “stability” after 9/11, I am also trying to regain a sense of comfort. I believe we confuse “answers” for truth. The result of which is to empty out our souls and live in torment. (Isaiah 50:11) NASB

The second tree is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9). Eve and Adam were beguiled by its offer of “divinity” – to know, to be in control…to secure the future, to be god. This illusion of control has plagued us ever since, in that we continue to seek peace and calmness through control! This is an elusive process only popularized by the denial of reality that we are not vulnerable, and that we can eradicate all evil from our experience!

Well…God intervenes in this process, by preventing us from continuing on perpetually in our delusion. He removes us from access to the third tree. (Gen. 3:22) This third tree is the Tree of Life, not spoken of often in Scripture, yet it is the very thing we were created to experience – LIFE! There remains a profound mystery here. Why do we continue to choose mastery/control (second tree) over mystery/faith (third tree)? This still puzzles and draws us to the fourth tree: the Easter Tree, the “tree” on which Jesus died.

I suspect that Easter is the holiday of choice for those who believe.

A friend tells of an experience in Europe a few years ago where he wanted to celebrate Easter, and a local national asked him where he was going. When informed, the local did not know what Easter was, much less why one would engage in celebration.

This tree is filled with paradox and is difficult to understand. The word paradox literally means, “beyond what is thought”. Nothing of the cross makes sense unless we move “beyond thought” into paradox. Here are some of the contradictions: the God of Love surrenders to violence; power chooses powerlessness; the response to hatred is forgiveness; an ignominious sign of death becomes the symbol of Life Everlasting.

Most of us don’t like paradox because we want to resolve the tension instantly. This is why we have meetings in which first somebody proposes one side of the issue and then someone else the other. The tension mounts for a few minutes and then there is a vote called for to get the tension over with. We vote, 51% win by telling the other 49% where to get off, and the 49% spend the next decade undermining the decision we thought we had made – all because we don’t know how to hold on to the tension.

The cross cannot be understood theoretically. Paradoxes are not understood so much as lived. The cross is not just something that happened in the past: it is a way to live in the present as we wait for full access to the third tree, the Tree of Life. Salvation is more than an event; it’s a way of living in ever greater fidelity to the truth that each of us is sinner and saint, not sinner or saint. Reconciliation is holding these counterpoints in creative tension while affirming the truth of each. In every experience of the cross, we affirm that neither part of the contradiction rules out the other. Together both parts constitute truth/meaning.

Maybe Richard Rohr’s conclusion in “Everything Belongs”, illustrates just how this fourth tree bears on the “tension” in our lives: “The price we pay for holding together these opposites, is always some form of crucifixion. Jesus was crucified between the good thief and the bad thief; hanging between heaven and earth; holding onto both his humanity and His divinity; expelled as the problem by both religion and state. He rejected none of these, but “reconciled all things in Himself”. (Eph. 2:10)

Somehow, this Christmas season, living beyond what is thought may help us to really LIVE! Being reconcilers in our own world and holding on to the tension that faith demands, settles our souls in a way nothing of this world – governments, money, power, control, tradition, ritual, success, can ever provide. In paradox, certainty is always illusive, while mystery becomes almost tangible. Thank you Jesus for coming and finishing this mystery, this good news that alone sustains us in this marred world.

“In the world you have trouble But, take courage I have conquered the world.” Jesus (John 16:33)

“Pain plunges like a sword through creation. Suffering is everywhere, unavoidable and never idle.” (Underhill)

We truly live in a pain-phobic culture. How can we embrace the true reality of suffering in ways that are spiritually and psychologically healthy?

Harry Schamburg says: “we can’t prevent the problems of sexual addiction in the church if we don’t change our message from ‘how to feel better now’ to the unpopular biblical theme that ‘the sufferings we now experience are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’ Paul (Romans 8:18)

I believe that there is a great deal of poor thinking about suffering and the role of pain in life.

“Suffering never saved anybody. Not your suffering. Not mine. Not even Jesus’s suffering saves in and of itself. Rather, it is the way suffering is faced that makes the difference between whether pain, sorrow, difficulty, deprivation, and/or challenge become part of our souls stretching or shrinking!” (R Morris)

Being a counselor, I have listened to many stories of suffering where; one family is sideswiped by the unexpected birth of a child with a catastrophic handicap, drawing them closer together in mutual support. Their hearts are stretched: “It’s changed our expectations about what’s important in life,” the father says. Another couple greets an infant with a lesser handicap with a resistant bitterness: “It’s like our lives were suppose to end up in southern California and we got hijacked to the Arctic Circle!” The couple separates, their marriage relationship too strained to continue.

It’s not our place to judge, we do not know the mystery of their hearts. But we cannot help observing the different outcomes. Those who survive and grow more resilient in times of suffering somehow find inner resources of acceptance, endurance and patience to deal with their trials. Simple acceptance of their limitations leads to quiet thankfulness where they see life as a series of challenges to be faced. Suffering was something to be dealt with, lived through, learned from, and redeemed.

On the other hand, victims see life as a tale of repeated, undeserved woe where chronic complaint is justified.

One stance shrinks our soul while the other surly expands it. Christians often speak loosely about “redemptive suffering.” I am becoming convinced that there is no such thing in the Christian message. This is not a mere debate over words. I do not believe that suffering itself contains some hidden divine spark. There is nothing in the Gospels to support that Jesus ever deliberately sought suffering, indeed, he seems to do everything possible to relieve it. Christ shows us the way to suffer redemptively.

Making this distinction between Christ’s redemptive way of meeting suffering and suffering itself is a crucial one for psychological health and spiritual formation toward wholeness.

“There is an ancient, dark, masochistic undercurrent in some spirituality that sees some sort of spiritual power in pain itself.” (R Morris)

Beliefs throughout history have tied this belief to getting the attention of the gods’. (See I Kings 18:28). Whatever such ideology encourages in behavior, “sharing in Christ’s sufferings” is not about self-inflicted pain. We share in Christ’s sufferings when we participate in his way of meeting suffering and it’s sources, as we pursue, with him, the incarnation of the dream of the Kingdom.

How did Christ do this? And why is this part of the Christian journey so confusing? In Hebrews 12:2, it says that Jesus “endured the cross”… How? “For the joy set before him”…. Because he was rooted in goodness deeper than the suffering, so even in the midst of suffering he was deeply anchored in the goodness of God. I believe this was Jesus’ secret of facing life in this wild, wonderful, and terribly difficult world… and ours to follow! Grounded in such goodness we can face any adversity, drawing on the Grace of a world larger than the suffering.

“…Here’s what I want you to do… Get out there and walk -– better yet, run! –- on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want you strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark, that you do this with humility and discipline — until we are all moving rhythmically and easily with each other — efficient and graceful in response to God’s son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

No prolonged infancies among us, please. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love – like Christ – who’s very breath and life flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”

PAUL – The Message

How good is your Memory? Last time I wrote in “Inside CAI”, I was arguing that that the church as a whole does not deal with doubt or confusion very well. And, I believe that this is a necessary process in our lives if we are going to grow up – be able to experience the raw-ness of life, and truly enjoy the freedom, I believe Christ died to provide, – by being fully mature and fully alive.

At that time, I argued that we are masterfully designed to grow, and there is never a lack of development needed in our lives. However, we somehow seek a status that will not foster such growth. So, even though we move through various developmental phases, we seem to return to the “proven and comfortable” where we have a sense of control, rather than face and walk into an unpredictable future where only God stands, and where He bids us come.

I. CHAOS – is characterized by Autonomy – Independence. PRODUCT: A sense of being “self-sufficient.

II. ‘STABLE’ – is characterized by External – Institutional. PRODUCT: A sense of being “in Control”.

III. PUZZLEMENT – is characterized by Questions/Confusion Doubt. PRODUCT: A sense that somehow “There is More”.

IV. CONNECTION – is characterized by community exposure. PRODUCT: Experience of true freedom and joy. These are certainly not linear, yet the first three stages are a necessary launching pad for the forth stage. Two ideas are necessary here:

1.) The fourth stage is where “whole” life truly takes place and where, I believe, we are designed to live.

2.) We are often deceived into thinking that the first three stages are all that life really offers. Let me explain…

Real community or “connection”, (stage 4) depends on maturity for its existence. Last night at church I heard a sermon on “change”. It was seen as an optimist might see, yet I believe “change” or transformation is a move, usually ‘away’ from something: i.e. We ‘change’ to remove some form of discomfort (it matters not what) – and we use the first three stages of development as our sole options-/resources, to grapple with said irritant (discomfort). By switching back and forth in our stance in order to defend or self-sooth, all three stages are necessary in/for our development. Yet, in order to grow, one must face his/her shame, through exposure, in order for true ‘community’ to work…so that can true growth can take place. Unfortunately, few in a population get to this stage.

“TRUE” Community demands that a person can be exposed! This forces us to push away from a learned ‘default’ behavior/option of switching back and forth through self-protective choices…all of which bring short term relief, yet prevent the access to true transformation. This exposure, I believe, is what we are designed for, and of which our deepest longings nudge us toward. (read: “Eternity in Their Hearts” – Eccle. 3:11).

The Rareness of experiencing “True Community”, prompts questions:

l) Are we blinded so as not to move toward this?

2) Are we somehow programmed to capitulate (default) to the lowest

comfortable denominator?

3) Is joy so elusive that the arduous-ness of the task defeats us

before we even begin? (so that we turn back).

4) Is our fear of true freedom so strong that facing it becomes

unthinkable?

5) Does exposure feel so ‘out of control’ that its demands stop the

process of growth?

6) Are we, as natural risk takers, (church planters are high in this :o),

still so drawn to the illusion of control, that we move toward

reflected light rather than the SON?

ANSWER THIS:

DO YOU WANT TO WALK IN LIFE “FULLY MATURE – FULLY ALIVE”?

Paul says we will only do this through humility and discipline. “My assumption is that you learned Christ, that you paid careful attention, and have been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus…so, we do not have the excuse of ignorance…”

As I sit to write this I am aware that many do not believe that Jesus has anything to do with this season, much less that he is God and Lord over all. Being PC can be unnerving when there is precious little room for anything more than opinions, which after all are only yours and certainly not to be brought into question.

So Merry Christ-mas to you.

My fervent prayer for this coming year is that your life will be “spacious.”

This comes from a quote: “The leadership mind is spacious.” This quote was found in an article by Peter Koestenbaum in Fast Company a number of years ago. He goes on to say that you cannot get around life’s inherent contradictions. This mind he is speaking of has “ample room for ambiguities of the world, for conflicting feelings, and for contradictory ideas.”

I wondered as I read this if this is not what Jesus is offering us, as His followers, a product of his coming to earth. He is giving us a major way in which to navigate this truly crazy world, politically, economically, and relationally with a spacious mind at rest, calm, tranquil and still. So many people, so many ideas, so much pain, such mixed responses. The cacophonous voices afraid or angry, I wonder how many of these agents come from a cramped space where there is no room in which to reflect and where there is no one at ease.

In Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.” [or will not be in a hurry] my translation is: will have the space to live regardless the context.

How often today do you find yourself “disturbed?” Maybe a spaciousmind, a mind the bible would say is at rest, is what we will need to truly live in a troubled and disturbing world.

We live with such polarities. Yet most of the substance of life comes from those elements that really have no solutions–but rather demand a change of attitude or renewing the way you perceive. In the face of such complexity without solutions, most people either give up or try harder. Maybe the bible and Koestebaum are both suggestion the same thing that there is indeed another way, that of rest, of not being disturbed, or having enough room to see and understand that there is a peace available in the midst of conflict.

Again in Isaiah 8:11-14a, “For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. and He shall be your fear; And He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary,…”

In your situation there is no conspiracy or fear that can stand up against a person who is at rest, has space in their thinking to enter the relational sanctuary that Isaiah is speaking about. He/God becomes our place of rest. The relationship with the Holy offers us just such space.

That is why Jesus came.

Koestebaum goes on to say when you grapple with these complexities with spaciousness then you; “lose your arrogant, self-indulgent illusions,” and you realize that having space or rest frees you to truly live. I pray you will make room for the gift of rest that is offered and the great joy that spaciousness can bring in the middle of great puzzlement and complexity.

Here is to a quiet, calm 2016 where we enter His rest and create spacefor living.

At the beginning of this year, I was impacted by the enormous idea (not new) that time plays a larger role in our lives than most of us give credence to. It is as if the inevitable, inexorable drivenness of the state we find ourselves in is too large for comprehension, so time goes unattended, and that is folly indeed.

Truly, in our culture, we are almost obsessed with time: we never seem to have enough of it, can’t explain it, mark it, save it, waste it, bide it, race against it, and we are often confused why others seem to have more of it than we do. How does that work?

I do take some comfort in the fact that St. Augustine, pondering the mystery of time, wrote in his confessions, “If no one asks me, I know; but if any person should require me to tell him, I cannot.”

So, why do we wish for more time? We often want it to go faster or slower depending on…whatever. Maybe these following thoughts can help orient us when so much is anticipated, to “change” as we move forward.

There is a story I recall that brings some of this home. It is about the death of a mate, where the husband shares with his brother-in-law a tissue wrapped package. “This, he said, is not a slip. It is lingerie.” He discarded the tissue and handed the slip to his brother-in-law. It was exquisite; silk, hand made, trimmed in lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it, was still attached. The husband then tells how his wife had bought the slip on a trip 8 or 9 years before, and she never wore it. She was saving it for a “special occasion”. Then he said, “I guess this is the occasion.” He took the slip and placed it on the bed with the other clothes they were taking to the mortician. After a pause, the husband turned and said, “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you are alive is a special occasion.”

Maybe we can resist putting off, holding back, or saving anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives, and thus to others, that God has entrusted to us. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:7.

There is a difference between two theological constructs of time given us in Scripture. One is chronos, which is ordinary time, and the kind of time that sadly often gets our attention. Then there is kairos, which is God’s time. Eternity is not a time concept. It

has nothing to do with time at all, and therefore, it is almost impossible for us to conceive of eternity because we are rooted in time.

I read a quote not too long ago about this subject and it went something like this: “The vast majority of us spend at least half of each waking day in various pastimes that provide no earthly use or satisfaction for anyone – including ourselves.” Often, when I look up from my computer to check the clock, I am astounded at the amount of time that has passed, and how minimal the soul satisfaction is.

I would like to challenge each of us in our own space, to see if we can be “time redeemers” this year and beyond. Or, as Paul says, “Making the most of the time”. Ephesians 5:17.

It is very significant that in Psalm 90, (please take “time” to read Psalm 90) the only Psalm by Moses, God had him write on the subject of “Time”. From forty laid back years of tending sheep, to forty grueling years judging God’s people, Moses had experienced both extremes of time management: none needed, and control demanded. Moses had gained a perspective of time and life that few others had. In Psalm 90, Moses detailed a godly perspective of time through a number of simple, yet profound thoughts. The title indicates that this is actually a prayer of Moses. (It might be noted here that when we pray, I believe we are, in fact, loving from chronos to kairos, but that is for another missive.)

Moses prays about God’s relation to time in the first four verses, and it might be thought of this way:

1) God exists throughout all ages, as both being there, and as a refuge. v.1. 2) God exists outside of time, pre-existing time, and inhabiting eternity. v. 2. 3) God controls the life spans of men, made from earth and returning to it, v.3. 4) God is not controlled by time, thus He remains ever present, v.4.

Moses talks about our relationship to time, in verses. 5-11. He uses the shortness of our time on earth to drive home the truth that we only have these few moments to redeem. All said, man is finite and governed by time! Moses is so moved by life’s brevity that in verse 12 he says, “So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

We are (well, I am) a master at wasting time, so here are some ideas about not being mastered by (1 Corinthians 6:12) this time thing, wherein we are imprisoned.

Myth: “If only I had more time.”

God has given us all the time we need to do what He has designed us to do. Either we are investing in areas where we were not designed to be, or we are wasting the time we have been given.

Myth: “If I only had the time someone else has.”

This is not fate – we are all equally given 52 weeks each year, with 168 hours each week. The use of time is a decision, not a function of chance. It is hard to realize that 20 minutes redeemed each day would give us three 40-hour weeks each year! Please keep in mind a central truth here, that there is a “time for everything”, yet it takes a steward’s heart to fully enjoy the life, choices, and relationships that God has given us so that we can sit, play, relax, work, eat, sleep, converse, relate, reflect, laugh, and cry, with both freedom and presence.

Myth: “I will make up time”

Time is a non-renewable resource, a gift we cannot produce or control. We can only manage our lives within it.

Myth: “Time is money”

These two are not synonymous. Lost wealth can be regained – not so with time! More accurately, time is life…an opportunity to serve God and man from gratitude, and to see this time we have been ‘given’ as the gift it is.

Myth: “Busyness is next to godliness”

Since the scriptures rebuke slothfulness, we seem to have swung the pendulum to the other extreme. I want to be careful here, but often it seems we somehow think that work will win us the freedom that only grace can provide, and then we are soon caught in a cycle of busyness that can leave our hearts barren. Maybe it would be better said that obedience, the yielding to God’s ways, is next to godliness.

Well, all this is so that we can reflect again on the fact that each of us has been entrusted with a measure of time here under the sun – to bring weight to God’s name, and joy to our hearts. So, “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to God a heart of wisdom”, which will satisfy our souls, and glorify His character. Then our lives will be marked as “a special occasion.”

“In the world you have trouble But, take courage I have conquered the world.” Jesus (john 16:33)

”Pain plunges like a sword through creation. Suffering is everywhere, unavoidable and never idle.” (Underhill)

We truly live in a pain-phobic culture. How can we embrace the true reality of suffering in ways that are spiritually and psychologically healthy?

Harry Schamburg says: “we can’t prevent the problems of sexual addiction in the church if we don’t change our message from ‘how to feel better now’ to the unpopular biblical theme that ‘the sufferings we now experience are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’ Paul (Romans 8:18)

I believe that there is a great deal of poor thinking about suffering and the role of pain in life.

“Suffering never saved anybody. Not your suffering. Not mine. Not even Jesus’s suffering saves in and of itself. Rather, it is the way suffering is faced that makes the difference between whether pain, sorrow, difficulty, deprivation, and/or challenge become part of our souls stretching or shrinking!” (R Morris)

Being a counselor, I have listened to many stories of suffering where; one family is sideswiped by the unexpected birth of a child with a catastrophic handicap, drawing them closer together in mutual support. Their hearts are stretched: “It’s changed our expectations about what’s important in life,” the father says. Another couple greets an infant with a lesser handicap with a resistant bitterness: “It’s like our lives were suppose to end up in southern California and we got hijacked to the Arctic Circle!” The couple separates, their marriage relationship too strained to continue.

It’s not our place to judge, we do not know the mystery of their hearts. But we cannot help observing the different outcomes. Those who survive and grow more resilient in times of suffering somehow find inner resources of acceptance, endurance and patience to deal with their trials. Simple acceptance of their limitations leads to quiet thankfulness where they see life as a series of challenges to be faced. Suffering was something to be dealt with, lived through, learned from, and redeemed.

On the other hand, victims see life as a tale of repeated, undeserved woe where chronic complaint is justified.

One stance shrinks our soul while the other surly expands it. Christians often speak loosely about “redemptive suffering.” I am becoming convinced that there is no such thing in the Christian message. This is not a mere debate over words. I do not believe that suffering itself contains some hidden divine spark. There is nothing in the Gospels to support that Jesus ever deliberately sought suffering, indeed, he seems to do everything possible to relieve it. Christ shows us the way to suffer redemptively.

Making this distinction between Christ’s redemptive way of meeting suffering and suffering itself is a crucial one for psychological health and spiritual formation toward wholeness.

“There is an ancient, dark, masochistic undercurrent in some spirituality that sees some sort of spiritual power in pain itself.” (R Morris)

Beliefs throughout history have tied this belief to getting the attention of the gods’. (See I Kings 18:28). Whatever such ideology encourages in behavior, “sharing in Christ’s sufferings” is not about self-inflicted pain. We share in Christ’s sufferings when we participate in his way of meeting suffering and it’s sources, as we pursue, with him, the incarnation of the dream of the Kingdom.

How did Christ do this? And why is this part of the Christian journey so confusing? In Hebrews 12:2, it says that Jesus “endured the cross”… How? “For the joy set before him”…. Because he was rooted in goodness deeper than the suffering, so even in the midst of suffering he was deeply anchored in the goodness of God. I believe this was Jesus’ secret of facing life in this wild, wonderful, and terribly difficult world… and ours to follow! Grounded in such goodness we can face any adversity, drawing on the Grace of a world larger than the suffering.

“The devil hath the power to assume a pleasing shape.” -William Shakespeare, Hamlet

As I have mused about this question that we are focusing on, I believe that it will aid the reader if they know what meaning I am assuming with certain terms, (really only one, the ‘Gospel’). After looking and reading some variety of sources and then checking all 99 references in the NASB 1995 (New Testament only), my definition of the gospel is this, Jesus. Now what I mean by this is, I believe, that the relational aspect of this message/truth is bound up essentially in the call to relate (if you will) directly with/to the Christ. How this takes place is as unique as each individual person.

In a recent review of a book by Lauren Winner, Girl Meets God, the author tells of reading Lewis’s Mere Christianity in high school. She said she really didn’t like it. “One of the reasons spiritual memoir has been popular throughout the last decade is that there are a lot of people who aren’t asking the Enlightenment questions that the more standard apologetics texts like Mere Christianity strive to answer. Having Lewis, however brilliantly, explain the logic and rationality of Christianity didn’t speak to me where I lived.” She continues to reflect “Christians have, for a very long time, lived very much as Enlightenment people. We talk about knowing God through our minds. In fact, I think Christian tradition offers something much richer than that.”

Since the claims of Jesus are startling, the focus of personalness /relationalness seems to be the stumbling block for most throughout the last 2000 years. Christianity is inherently communal/relational. The Body of Christ isn’t language that lends itself to individualism. We seem to want to contain this “Gospel” and domesticate it/him. This I believe is what drives the entire concept of religion, and essentially sets the Christian message starkly apart. Jesus came (into this world) to give life. This life is the core message of the “Gospel”, that Jesus is the guarantor of eternal life. In contrast to this, is the driving piece of all religion. That is, it strives to somehow escape this world by earning / figuring out / laboring , in order to get out of here (find eternal life) or descend into some form of escape/despair. Buried in the midst of this is the exclusive claim that causes so much difficulty when the “Gospel” is presented/broached. It is with this in mind that I would like to discuss the whole concept of tolerance as it relates to the promo.

Paired with Girl Meets God is another small book written by a friend of mine, Daniel Taylor, Is God Intolerant? Here, Taylor challenges us to think hard through this very contemporary issue. Tolerance is seen as one of the few universally commended values in our society. One of those values is the autonomy of the individual. My individual judgments and behaviors should not be suppressed in the name of something higher, because there is nothing higher. Being autonomous, my responsibility is to maximize my potential, without harming others. Furthermore, this all is in keeping with a third contemporary value—diversity. In a world where there are countless different cultures, all expressing different values, and attitudes and behaviors, it is not only necessary that we be tolerant, but it is morally incumbent upon us to celebrate those differences and all that diversity. To do any less is to be intolerant.

Context is everything when it comes to questions of tolerance and intolerance. And the single most important thing to understand about the context in which the current tolerance debate takes place, is the concept of relativism. Relativism is the view that all truth claims are rooted in opinion, not in fact or the nature of things. If I say, “This is true or this is wrong” I am stating a personal opinion. My opinion has been formed by my society and my personal experience. The result has authority for me, for the moment at least, but no necessary authority for anyone else. Relativism is related to but not the same as pluralism. Pluralism is based on the clearly observable fact that there are many different views and values and practices in this world. Pluralism is an observation, not an evaluation. Relativism absolutizes pluralism. It takes the fact of diversity of outlooks – pluralism—and draws the illegitimate and illogical conclusion that because there are many views, no one of them is better than any other. From the clear fact that we cannot agree on what is true, it wrongly deduces that there is therefore no truth—only opinions. Maybe best stated: “Everything is right somewhere and nothing is right everywhere.”

A handy working definition of tolerance is “putting up with the objectionable.” Central in that statement is the necessary fact of moral judgment. If by “tolerant”, someone means a healthy notion of tolerance as a willingness to get along , then I want to be tolerant, in fact, I want to affirm most of the diversity in the world, especially since I believe most of it was created by God. If by tolerant, however, one means unable or unwilling to make moral judgments or to believe in truth, then I must decline to be tolerant. This diseased understanding of tolerance is as dangerous as a diseased kind of intolerance, perhaps more so.

There are three relational applications of this, I believe.

First, the relationship between God and humanity, where God does not affirm us in our sin, nor is he indifferent to our sin. He loves us despite our sin.

Second, there is the relationship between believers. The goal of this relationship is captured in the word shalom. It is a word whose concept is nothing less than God’s vision for his entire creation, especially as it manifests itself in human well-being: individual, interpersonal, and social. Shalom appears more than 250 times in the Old Testament and many more times in its Greek counterpart in the New Testament. A shortened definition is peace that comes from everything being right in the world, each thing and person in its proper place doing that which it was created to do. (Of course, if you do not believe there is such a thing as “proper” or “created” then you will not believe in or seek shalom.) Understanding shalom provides a paradigm for understanding how Christians should conduct themselves regarding present-day calls for tolerance.

The third relationship is between believers and the larger world. Tolerance in the New Testament is more often a question of Christians needing to get along with each other, than it is a question of how believers relate to a pagan culture. God’s love is the starting point. It’s the master theme of creation and no amount of sin and brokenness can erase it. There is nothing weak about God’s love and nothing harsh about his justice.

The bible establishes love, not tolerance as the standard by which we relate to all people–both within and without the community of believers. See Romans 5:8. An intolerant God would destroy us in our sin. A tolerant God would merely put up with our sin. A loving God dies for our sin.

There are many telling biblical story examples of how this might work in our everyday lives. Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:1-9, or being a neighbor in Luke 10:30-37.

As so often in the bible, we are called on to hold two different but complementary ideas in tension together. This is but one example. The dual commands, you must love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. Too often these commands are separated and distorted. “Love the lord your God” is used as a rationale for condemning people for their sinfulness, and “love your neighbor” is distorted into a call for accepting sinful behavior. In one case, love is used as an excuse for condemning, in the other as an excuse for enabling. It is instructive that we find ourselves turning to stories to understand what the bible has to say about love and tolerance and righteousness. Stories move us away from theory to the everyday world in which we must live. So look at John 8, where we see one of the most enlightening stories about God’s attitude toward tolerance. In short Jesus does not dismiss her sin, nor does he dismiss her!

“Speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15) Here is where we find the first casualty of relativistic tolerance is truth. The first casualty of legalistic morality is love. The one who can hold onto both at the same time is a true follower of Jesus, truly in relationship.

What we know for certain is that we must be loving (read relationship), and that is a far greater challenge than being tolerant, with far greater dangers and rewards. Our calling is not to be popular but to be witnesses to the truth to a society that profoundly doubts there is any such thing and is disgusted by anyone suggesting he or she knows what the truth might be.

We must avoid the twin errors of arrogant, authoritarian condemnation on the one hand, and relativistic moral paralysis on the other. Between these lies a third way: loving faithfulness. We are called to live the Gospel as well as to proclaim it, Jesus has provided us the model and the possibility of relationship: Neither do I condemn you – Go and sin no more.